Money Doesn't Buy You Happiness
by InkDragoness
Summary: Karel, the snobby boy who likes money. Eric, the egotistic boy who has lots of money. You could say a match made in heaven...so long as their personalities don't get in the way. Shounen Ai. EricxKarel


**Hello and welcome to my story! This is my first shounen ai story, so it might not be the greatest. ^^' But I hope you enjoy it anyways!**

**Warning: Contains shounen ai. Pairing: Eric x Karel. Gods Eater Burst does not belong to me.**

* * *

><p>"Hey Eric."<p>

Eric der Vogelweid, perhaps the most magnificent of all Gods Eaters present, looked up. It was the annoying boy in a pink shirt. Eric knew exactly what Karel was going to say.

"Could you spot me some money?"

Eric chuckled. "Karel, Karel, Karel. When will you ever learn to spend your money wisely?"

Karel narrowed his eyes a little. His pride would not let him take that insult lying down, no matter how much he needed the money. "It's not my fault that the rewards are too little."

"Perhaps if you went on higher-ranked missions." Eric smirked. This was how their exchanges always went. And, in the end, Eric always won.

Karel gritted his teeth, already settling into the all-too-familiar response of, "You know I can't do those missions alone."

"Well then." Eric stood up, stretching. He was taller than Karel by a few inches, something he liked to point out because Karel was his elder by two years. "I suppose I can put up with you accompanying me on my glorious missions."

Karel rolled his eyes. He knew the drill. Eric always lent him money, but only after he made Karel jump through a couple hoops first. First would be the missions—which Eric would not admit, but were actually missions he couldn't do on his own—then he was pulled into bullet editing with him.

Not that he really minded, of course. But he would never admit that. There were plenty of people he could ask for money who would be perfectly willing to help him out. Shun and Gina—especially Gina—were always up for a mission, even if the intent was just for Karel's money gain. But for some reason, some stupid reason, he always found himself asking Eric.

"Alright. Let's go." Eric said, walking in that showy gait of his towards Hibari. He made a big show of picking a mission, always commenting on how he needed a mission equal to his greatness. Hibari watched with a bemused smile while Karel scowled. He was doing it on purpose, he knew. Eric had an idea of how much it annoyed Karel.

"Let's take this one." Eric said, choosing the mission. Karel walked forward, curious as to what mission he chose. This one called for the elimination of five Ogretails. The good payout made Karel happy. Five Ogretails were nothing to sneeze at, considering they were both snipers, but the money made it worth it.

"Try not to fall too far behind, pretty boy!" Eric smirked at Karel, using the nickname he'd given him.

"Say that to yourself!" Karel replied, knowing full well it was a pathetic comeback. He still hadn't figured out a good reply to that insult.

Eric childishly stuck his tongue out and dashed to the gate to start the mission, Karel closely following behind.

* * *

><p>"Aragami above, Eric! You really need to pay more attention!"<p>

Eric just grinned at that. "Sorry. I just thought that that Ogretail would be too dazed by my magnificence to attack me."

Karel huffed in response.

Of course stupid Eric had to get attacked. Of course he had to hurt his leg. Of course Karel now had to drag him back to base. Of course it resulted with Eric leaning heavily against Karel, one arm around his shoulder. Of course Karel didn't mind it that much.

In fact, he kinda li—

"Admit it, you were worried!" Eric puffed out, an obnoxious grin on his face despite his pain. Karel was shaken from his thoughts, though he hadn't liked where they were going anyway.

"Of course I was worried!" Karel yelled. "You're a weakling that can't take a hit!"

"A weakling, eh?" Eric laughed. "You're the one who needed my help to do higher ranked missions!"

"Well, if you're so great, why didn't you do it on your own? Or, even better, with someone else!"

Eric's laughing abruptly stopped. Karel looked at him in confusion. Eric had a seldom-seen sad expression on his face. He stopped moving, forcing Karel to stop too, in case he hurt him even more.

"I don't want to do these missions with anyone else." Eric said quietly.

Karel didn't answer. He didn't know how to answer. Eric's sudden change of mood worried him.

"Uh, how about we sit down?" Eric grinned sheepishly, looking kind of nervous.

"Alright." Karel answered, dragging Eric to a cracked block of cement. Karel didn't like sitting on the ground. It got his clothes dirty.

The moment they sat Eric removed his arm from around Karel's shoulders and plopped himself down onto his back.

"You know, Karel." Eric began. It sounded like he was forcing his tone of voice, the one that seemed so smug. "I do this kind of stuff just to torture you."

"I know." Karel replied sourly.

"It's fun…" Eric paused. "Going on missions with you, I mean."

Karel turned around to look at Eric. Eric had a weird expression on his face. In fact, he was acting strangely. Eric never acted like this. He was usually upbeat, but now he was acting demure. Karel scowled at the transformation. Something just wasn't right.

But still, Karel had to admit that Eric's words made him happy, if only a little bit.

Eric suddenly sat up, his hands on his lap. He was agitated. Karel could tell that just because he was tapping his fingers. When Karel's gaze moved from his hands to his face, he noticed it was slightly red.

"Oh, hell." Eric murmured. "I just need to get it over with."

And before Karel could react, Eric's lips were planted on his.

Karel felt his heart jump to his throat and heat gather at his cheeks. Had Eric…was Eric…_kissing_ him? Surely he was. Their lips were pressed together. Eric had his eyes closed, even though it was hard to tell from beneath his shades. Karel barely noticed the hand that Eric had placed on his leg. He just noticed that warmth that seemed to be radiating from it.

Eric suddenly broke off, looking away. Karel's lips felt cold, the wind chilling them more than usual. The sudden distance between them—though it wasn't much—seemed like a giant void.

"Well, uh, we should go." Eric said, standing up.

Before Karel was even aware of his movements he grabbed Eric's arm and pulled him back down. However, he was very aware of what he was doing when he leaned over and kissed Eric.

Now it was Eric's turn to be surprised, but he didn't pause nearly as long as Karel had. Before long he was returning it.

_This is really happening!_ Karel thought. He had always had a weird feeling around Eric, one that he couldn't quite place, but he never thought it would develop into _this_.

Not that he was complaining.

Suddenly Eric's tongue was in his mouth. Karel felt heat shoot down his body. He didn't know how to react. He could practically feel Eric's smugness, as if the idea of putting Karel on the ropes brought him satisfaction.

Karel didn't want Eric to win. So he retaliated with his own tongue.

The fight continued, with neither party wanting to admit defeat. It was only when Eric snaked his hand under Karel's shirt that Karel jumped back with a yelp, earning a smug grin from Eric.

"I win." Eric said with a smirk, even though his cheeks were red and his breathing was ragged.

_It's not supposed to be that way! _Karel thought, trying to be mad but failing. _I'm the older one, I should be the one to call the shots! I'm supposed to be the one embarrassing_ him_!_

"Well, alright then!" Eric grinned. He stood up, cracking his back. Then he nonchalantly walked off.

"Hey!" Karel called after him, jumping to his feet. He desperately tried to force the blush from his pale skin. "I thought you were hurt!"

Eric looked back, grin evident on his face despite his shades. "I'm too magnificent to get hurt!"

_Wait, so that means…he was acting the whole time? Just so that he could…so we could… Stupid Eric!_ Karel thought. But that still didn't stop the grin from appearing on his face.

* * *

><p><strong>As I mentioned before, this is my first shounen ai story (and I'm pretty new to romance) so I hope it wasn't too bad. XD The pairing was something I just came up with randomly. It just seemed to fit because both of them like money…even if that's really superficial. XD Well, I still enjoyed writing this and I hope you enjoyed reading it! Thanks for reading~<strong>


End file.
